Gadgetory

if you bought an original Galaxy s4 just a few weeks before Samsung announced the Galaxy s4 active chances are your feelings and feelings right now or if you're still in the market for one or the other you've probably got some questions on how the two devices compare well let's try to answer those I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is Samsung Galaxy s4 active vs. samsung galaxy s4 because we've already given the act of a thorough look in our quick review we're gonna limit this video to directly comparing it to the stock edition s4 in the usual three areas hardware software and performance to make sure you don't miss future comparisons subscribe here on YouTube and visit us at pocketnow.com and on our social media feeds the galaxy s4 active takes the chassis of the Galaxy s4 and builds upon it the active is larger in every dimension and even though we're talking millimeters here the 15% increase in thickness over the s4 means you definitely feel it in the hand and the increase in mass from 130 to 150 3 grams means you feel it in the pocket - now that's not necessarily a bad thing we ding - the stock s4 in our review for feeling - plasticy despite its relatively good looks and the actives extra bulk goes a long way toward overcoming that if you like it's in your face rugged aesthetic it feels better in the hand - its satin finish nicer under the fingertips than the s4 is hyper glaze and obviously you won't feel the need to be as careful with the active not because of any legitimate impact resistance or milspec ratings but just because the actives build won't show scratches and dings as easily and then there's the actives ip67 immersion and dust resistance ratings which the s4 can't match at all without a case but the active makes some alterations to attain that capability the biggest one is on the biggest component the 5-inch display takes a kind of sideways step to LCD from AMOLED a move we're not huge fans of but which you might be depending on your taste we're still talking about a 1080p 441 PPI panel here so it's still beautiful but we really hate to lose the heightened saturation and deep blacks that AMOLED provides the traditional counter-argument that is that LCD performs better in bright sunlight but while that may be true to a very limited extent in this case it didn't make any noticeable difference in our testing you pour enough sunlight on these screens you won't be able to see anything on either one so the decrease to vibrance of the LCD and its purplish tint is tougher to swallow on the active fortunately the internals stay largely unchanged from the stock to the active so you spec heads can put your pencils down and take a breather for this one we've got the same 1.9 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 driving everything on each device with the help of 2 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of built-in storage because their Samsung phones you can count on that storage being expandable via microSD in each case and you can also breathe a sigh of relief that the 2600 milliamp hour battery stays the same across phones and yes even on the active it stays removable the similarities continue in software with both phones running a recent build of TouchWiz atop Android 4.2.2 jelly bean if you like TouchWiz you'll feel right at home on the Galaxy s4 active and if you hate it you'll still have plenty to hate on on the active as well it's the same software experience that said apps like s-health make a lot more sense on the active which is presumably the more attractive phone to folks who've spent a lot of time exercising and Samsung's clever integration of a stock torch app on the active is something we wish every smartphone featured it's very handy also ported pretty much straight from the s4 to the active is the camera suite which features the same viewfinder format itself a port of the Galaxy cameras software the interface is a little complex when you get down into the settings menus but it's excellent shooting mode carousel is easy to use and understand in each instance the active features a special aqua shooting mode for underwater photos and videos a mode that also enables the volume key as a shutter release but it doesn't offer the s4's dual shot and maybe more importantly to sum the actives camera is an 8 megapixel sensor down from 13 megapixels on its cousin now megapixels certainly aren't everything and our brief testing bore that out results were inconclusive but certainly not a slam dunk in either direction the s for sometimes delivered warmer shots and it's 13 megapixel photos are certainly more zoomable than the actives 8 megapixel shots but both cameras do quite well outdoors especially with HDR mode enabled indoor photos gave both devices a challenge overall the stock s for s camera did exhibit a slight edge in most photos with a little less noise and a little more detail in lower lit areas but then the active can take photos underwater so there's that in terms of video both devices can film in full 1080p resolution but the S 4's edge is a little more apparent here with its video quite clean and clear while the active favours the purple end of the spectrum and is much more susceptible to wide swings in exposure and white balance beyond the camera performance there are some more concrete differences here we've had another chance to evaluate voice calling between these two since our review landed and voice does indeed take a big hit on the active callers said we sounded muddy and muffled on the active compared to the stock s for which we didn't rate too highly on call performance in the first place those results also translated to speakerphone calls as well if you're someone who relies on crisp call quality you'll probably want to favor the stock S four over the active the active also takes a slight hit in synthetic benchmarks but thankfully that doesn't translate to software performance it's just as responsive as the s4 and whether that's a plus or a minus depends on your feelings about the s4 s stock software load rounding out the performance differences on a bright note battery endurance is fairly equal between these units each one will get you through a full day with moderate use and cellular reception also went hand-in-hand on each with the Galaxy S 4 active Samsung has largely succeeded in building a more durable version of the base product without sacrificing much if you can deal with the less vibrant display lower resolution camera and reduced voice quality in exchange for a phone that can put up with the rigors of a rough-and-tumble lifestyle the active will probably be the device for you and it's a solid choice in that regard but if you want the true no sacrifices cream-of-the-crop when it comes to the Galaxy S series the stock galaxy s4 still holds the crown here you just make sure to get a case if you're going to put it underwater and definitely try not to drop it ever book save so much more on the Galaxy s4 active the galaxy s4 and pretty much every other smartphone and tablet you can imagine at pocketnow.com so please visit us there but before you go like this video if you did enjoy it leave us a comment if you have something to say and follow us on social media once again so you don't miss out on the discussion until next time thank you so much for watching we'll see you again soon